
C^nQJt.f ^ 






/ 

SPEECH 



HON. C. J. FAULKNER, OF VIRGINIA, 

ill 



THE COMPROMISE— THE PRESIDENCY— POLITICAL PARTIES. 



DELIYEREO 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AUGUST 2, 1852, 



WASHING rONj 

PklNTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICB. 

1852. 



THE COMPROMISE, &c. 



The riortsc being in the Comtnittse of the Whole on the 
State of the Union on the Civii and DipJomalic Appropria- 
tion Dill — 

Mr. FAULKNER said: 

Mr. Chaiumav: I had hoped, sir. that no occa- 

f}^n would have occurred, during iiiy service in 

^'ti^s body, rendering it necessary for me to address 

, P^e Flouse upon any of the current political topics 

*6f the day. I came here to discharge my duty as 

»! representative of the people — to labor in the 

f)lain, straightforward path of constitutional legis- 
ation — to limit myself to the discharge of the ap- 
propriate duties which belong to me as a member 
of this body — to dedicate my time to the investi- 
gation oftliose questions upon which I am required 
to record ray votes, and to sustain the peculiar 
interests of my constituents, wherever those inter- 
ests have been improperly neglected and disre- 
garded by the Government. But having taken 
occasion, some short time since, in company with 
a few others v/ho concurred in opinion with me, 
to indicate, in a very brief card, the course which 
I should feel it my duty to pursue in the approach- 
ing presidential election — a right, the exercise of 
wltich belongs to every freeman of this Republic, 
and my potntion having been made by partisan 
orators and editors, throughout the country, the 
subject of most acrimonious assault, I feel im- 
pelled to throw myself upon the indulgence of the 
committee to preseut more at large some of the 
reasons which govern me in the course which I 
pFv-ipuse to pursue; and if those who difler from 
me in opinion can perceive in my present position 
the slightest aberation in principle from that which 
I assumed in my canvass for a seat upon this 
floor, I shall be gratified to see the discrepancy 
pointed out to the censure and condemnation of 
those who have a right to sit in judgment upon 
my conduct. 

Mr. Chai mai, looking at the respective plat- 
forms annoincal by the two parties, and at the 
c-nirse of I atio.ial legislation, few, if indeed a 
si'^de one, of the questions which formerly di- 
videcl oarties, have for some years past cons^tituted 
jjoliticj' issues before the country. The Bank of 
Ine Unitfi States, to protract whose corporate ex- 



istence so much misplaced patriotism was expend- 
ed, has almost perished from human memory, and 
has been supplanted by a financial system which 
is everywhere acquier-'ced in without a murmur. 
The bankrupt law v/as a temporary measure, and 
rose and exploded like a bubble upon the agitated 
surface of the water. The Mexican war has left 
behind it nothing but the memory of its proud 
achievements and successful issue. The system 
of internal improvements, once so vigorously main- 
tained, is now universally discountenanced; and 
all who maintain any pov/er in t!ie Federal Gov- 
ernment over the subject, in any form, limit the 
exercise of that power within such a narrow range 
of commercial fecility and national defense as to 
avert any very marked hostility to iheir views. 
A tariff policy, looking to protection as its leading 
and primary object, is now without an advocate 
in the country — as completely so as the doctrine 
of ptjre international free trade; and so long as the 
principle is avowed and honestly carried out, that 
no more revenue should be raised than is sufficient 
to defray the Just and economical expenditures of 
the Government — that such revenue should be col- 
lected from imposts, and not from direct taxes, so 
as to give to the labor of our ov/n country the in- 
cidental benefit resulting tVom that system of tax- 
ation; and that, in raising this revenue, such equal- 
ity of burden should be imposed that one class or 
portion of the country should not be taxed for the 
benefit of another — principles now universally con- 
ceded, all else pertaining to any tariff law must be 
mere matter of detail, about which local interests 
may squabble, but in regard to which national par- 
ties cannot differ. The question of the public lands 
has long since passed from the control of party 
action, and been merged in the ever-circling whirl- 
pool of sectional cupidity and universal demao-oo-- 
ism; and the only divisions which it has been niy 
fortune to v/itne.ss upon that subject, since I have 
held a seat upon this floor, have'been those which 
spring from the celebrated Rob Roy maxim: 
" That good old rule— tlmt siinph; plan. 
That they shall taki; Vilio have the power, 
And they may iiolo who can." 

These old issues have passed away, because 



they sprung alone from the adtninistrative policy 
of the Government — a policy which, in a country 
of such gigantic growtti, rapid development, and 
intimate connection vv'iih the whole commercial 
world, must necessarily be modified and adapted 
to its changing condition and ever-onv/ai\l des- 
tiny. They have passed away, because time and 
enlightened discussion have corrected many of 
the errors and dissipated many of the prejudices 
which surrounded those subjects; and more than 
all, they have been lost sight of by the public 
mind, because, of late years, they have yielded to 
a class of questions of far greater magnitude, in- 
volving the very existence of the noblest structure 
of civil government which the sun has ever shone 
upon. 

Sir, since the recent alarming agitation of these 
sectional issues, I have had but one rule to guide 
and control me in my political course, and that is 
irrespective of all former party associations and of 
all effete — lifeless, galvanic political organizations, 
to give my humble and sincere support to those 
men, and to those associated bodies of men who, 
from their public declarations and authentic acta, 
give me the highest assurance of their fidelity to the 
obligations imposed by our great Federal compact. 
The South is now, for the first time since the 
origin of this Government, in a minority in both 
branches of the National Legislature. We have 
in this fact a source of just solicitude, which may 
well arouse u-s to reflection, and cause us to look 
more narrov.'ly into the tendencies and composi- 
tion of parties than we have heretofore done. 
We have now no longer in this nor in the other 
Chamber the power of numbers to repel aggres- 
sion and to vindicate our rights. We have great 
and momentous intere? ts confided to our safe cus- 
tody, upon the firm and intrepid maintenance of 
which, depend our peace and tranquillity, and 
which interests may be, and arc, the subjects of 
constant aggression and assault. A very slight 
examination into the tone of public sentiment, and 
the tendencies of this Government must be suffi- 
cient to satisf)^ any man that the safety of the 
South in this Confederacy depends upon a strict 
and literal interpretation of the powers of Con- 
gress; upon a vigilant watchfulness of abuse; and 
upon a faithful observance by the Government of 
all of those provisions in that instrument which 
have been so carefully designed to protect and de- 
fend our interests. 

Amongst the clauses contained in the Constitu- 
tion is one which has attracted an unusual share 
of public attention witliin the last few years. The 
interest which this question has awakened has re- 
sulted from the fact that it is a plainly written con- 
dition of the bond; tliat it is a provision of vital 
practical importance to the South; that it has been 
violated with impunity and under ever)^ circum- 
stance of atrocity and insult; that the authority of 
the National Legislature has been invoked to give 
vitality and efficacy to the compact, and that fa- 
naticism and resistance have reared their treason- 
able heads to cancel and destroy a solemn and 
deliberate contract made and approved by our 
fathers. The question presented, beiiig no less 
than whe'her the Constitution is an instrument in- 
tended foi the benefit of the whole Union, or only 
of a part of it; — whether the South sliall bear its 
burdens, without being allowed to participate in its 
benefits. Sir, 1 do not over estimate the import- 



ance of that provision of the Constitution which re- 
quires the delivery of our fugitives from labor, 
when I say, that upon its stern and inflexible ex- 
ecution depends our domestic tranquillity, and the 
peace and stability of the Union. I say here, to 
gentlemen of the North, deny us the honest, 
cheerful, and faithful observance of that guarantee 
of, the Constitution, and you make us aliens to 
you in feeling, and enemies to a system of Gov- 
ernment which can tolerate such injustice, it was 
one of the equivalents which was promised for 
the surrender of that unrestricted commerciaJ 
pov/er which it was then forseen, and which has 
since resulted in covering your country with cities, 
palaces, and all the evidences of affluence and 
wealth. It v/as one of the conditions of the bar- 
gain, and one without which v/e should have re- 
fused to have negotiated at all. Of this ojiinion 
was the Supreme Court of the United States, when 
it was announced to the North, through the lips 
of one of its most eminent northern judges, " that 
' the full recogniiion of this riglit and title was 
' indispensable to the security of that species of \ 
' property amongst them, and was so vital lo J^.o 
' preservation of their domestic interests and in- 
' stitutions, that it constituted a fundamental 
' ARTICLE, without the adoption of which, the 
' Union could not have been formed." To se- 
cure this important object, the Soutli made many 
sacrifices in the Federal Convention; and surely, 
no man who looks to the welfare of the South, 
or to the interests of the Union, (for upo.^-J is 
question, above all others, the interests oi'*^ e 
South and of the Union are one and the sarne,)x\ ' 
be indifferent to the respective views of the tv.." 
great political parties upon this question, nor, .n- 
deed, to the views of any influential portion of 
these parties. It cannot be an unimportant incjuiry 
at a time like this, to know who, during the late 
perilous crisis through which we have passed, 
have been our friends, and who have been our ene- 
mies; who h.ave recognized our rights, and who 
have denied them; who have regarded the Consti- 
tution as the fraternal bond of Union, and who 
have misapplied the powers conferred by it for the 
purposes of its own destruction, and from what 
quarter we may expect allies and friends if these 
rights should hereafter be assailed. So vital do I 
regard this subject, that I have no hesitation in 
declaring, that whatever might be my diversity of 
opinion upon questions of ordinary legislation with 
the two great parties of the country, I should feel 
it to be my imperative duty, at a period like the 
present, and until all serious agitation upon this 
subiect is finally put at rest, to contribute my aid 
to secure the ascendancy of that party which shall 
give me the most satisfactory assurances of its 
firmness and fidelity upon this fundamental issue. 

In the view which I take of this question, ar.d 
in the overwhelming importance which I attach to 
it, I am sure I do not stand alone. Certain it is, 
that lam sustained by the sagacity and patriotism 
of that eminent man, whose voice has not often 
been heard without a respectful response in this 
land, and whose death has so recently filled this 
Republic with grief. I take the following extract 
froKi some remarks delivered by Henry Clay, 
before the General Assembly of Kentucky, opt^he 
18th of November, 1850, upon which occasAJn he 
was invited to address that body: 

" If the agitation in regard to the fugitiv «'«"« W'* 



should continue, and increase, and become alarmin;!, it wi.l 
lead to the formation of two new parlies, one lor Uie Union 
and the other against the Union. And the piatform ol 
tiiat Union party will be, the Union, the Constitution, and 
the ^nfoicenient of its laws. And if itshould be necessary 
to form such a party, and it should be accordingly formed, 
I announce myself, in this place, a inertiher of that Union 
party, whatever may be its component elements. Sir, I go 
further: I have had great hopes and confidence in the prin- 
ciples of the Whig party, as being most likely to conduce 
to the honor, the prosperity, and the glory of my country. 
But if it is to be merged intoacontempiibleaboliiion party, 
and if aboliti(misin is to be ingrafted on the Whig creed, 
from that moment I renounce the parly and cease to be a 
Wiiig. I go yet a step further: if I am alive,! will give 
my iiunible support for the Presidency to that man, to 
whatever party he may belong, who is uneontaniinated by 
fanaticism, rather than to one who, crying out all the time 
and aloud that he is a Whig, maintains doctrines utterly 
subversive ofthe Constitution and the Union." 

I do not wish to he understood, in makina; this 
quotation from Mr. Clay, to affirm that the time 
has arrived, in the contemplation of that di.stin- 
pui.shed man, when ail the extreme results which 
he prefigures have been fully realized. I feel, in 
common with the whole country, 2:rateful to the 
southern V/higs for the firmness and patriotism 
which tliey displayed in forcing upon the Balti- 
more Convention the adoption ofthe compromise 
resolution. It was an important step in t!ie right 
direction; and I trust in God it may be found to 
leaven the whole mass of heretofore hostile senti- 
ments in the Whig party of tite North. But 1 
must be allowed to express my want of faith in 
its efficacy for any such result. I have too long 
ob.served the extent and intensity of that disease 
to believe that it will yield to so simple a prescrip- 
tion. jMeitheram I unadvised of the fact that the 
platform referred to was, in truth, forced upon 
l]iat body tinder circumstances of a most mai-lced 
a^d pecidiar character — that the southern Whigs 
were aided in their strategy upon that occasion by 
a triani^'ular struggle for the nomination, and by a 
condition of things which may never again occur; 
and that, after all, it was carried in opposition to 
a most formidable minority, who continued earn- 
estly opposed to it to the end. Neither am I in- 
seiisible to the fact that the southern Whigs con- 
stitute a very decided minority of their party in 
this Union; that its true power and acknowledged 
strength lies in the North; and that it is to the 
eentiments of the North.ern Whigs we can alone 
look for a true exposition of that policy which 
must give tone and character to the Whig part)' of 
the Union. Wholly unembarrassed, therefore, as 
1 am in my present political position, and free to 
choose between the respective nominations now 
before the country, it becomes my duty as a 
Roathern man, and as a Union man, to examine 
the principles and past proceedings of that major- 
ity branch of the Whig party to whose influence 
the country is indebted for the nomination now 
before us, a nomination made in opposition to the 
unanimous and protracted struggles ofthe South, 
and in opposition to the struggles of the few na- 
tional Whigs ofthe North who were so fortunate 
as to find a sufiie.ient constituency in that section 
of the Union to delegate them to that body. 

In order to present my own position fairly and 
distinctly before the country, it is necessary for 
me to advert to some portion of my own personal 
history, and to look back to the incidents of the 
past few years. 

As early as the j^ear 1846, my attention was in 
ail especial manner drawn to that extraordinary 



condition of things existing in this Confederacy, 
exhibiting the virtual and practical nullification of 
one of the most imnonaiit provisions secured by 
the Constitution to t!ie South. The guarantee 
existed, it is true, (as a dead letter,) in the Federal 
compact; but public sentiment and State legislation 
combined, had rendered it as absolutely inopera- 
tive as if it had been expressly excluded from the 
terms of our National Covenant. The act of Con- 
gress of 1793, depending for its vitality upon State 
agents and State officers, its efficacy v.'as wholly 
destroyed by the legislation of the States forbid- 
ding the cooperation of State officers in its en- 
forcement. I cannot better illustrate the spirit of 
northern legislation upon this subject than to re- 
fer to the case of Vermont, which by an act of 
November, 1843, inflicted a heavy pecuniary pen- 
alty, and declared it to be a penitentiary offense, 
not only for a State officer, but even for any citizen 
of that State, to aid in the recapture of a fugitive 
slave. I found that hostility to the institutions of 
the South was an increasing and growing senti- 
ment in the North, stimulated and fomented by 
politicians for the worst and most netarious pur- 
poses. 

Shortly after this occurred the brutal murder of 
Kennedy by a mob of free negroes and abolition- 
ists in Pennsylvania, whilst engaged in the asser- 
tion of^is legal and constitutional rights; and 
next the prompt and di.sgraceful acquittal of the 
murderers, and their discharge from all punish- 
ment whatever. I felt persuaded that unless there 
was some decided action upon the part of Con- 
gress in giving efficacy and value to this despised 
provision of tlie Constitution, and some change in 
the public sentiment of the North, leading to a 
better understanding and more thorough recogni- 
tion of the rights of the South, that the Union 
must he brouglit to a speedy and violent rupture. 
I accordingly, in July, 1847, opened a correspond- 
ence with several of the most prominent and dis- 
tinguished men of the nation, sus'gesting such 
remedies as occurred to my mind for the existing 
evil, and soliciting their advice. From none of 
them did I receive the slightest encouragetTient to 
the idea that any amendment could be obtained 
to the act of 1793 by Congress. Mr. Calhoun, 
in emphatic terms, replied to me that " any at- 
tempt to procure favorable legislation from Con- 
gress would be idle." 

Not discouraged by thisai^vice, I determined, in 
the spring of 1848, to submit myself to the voters 
of Beikeley county as a candidate for a seat in 
the House of Delegates — intending, if elected, to 
endeavor to bring the whole moral power of Vir- 
ginia to bear upon this subject before Congress. 
{ was elected, and, accordingly, within a few days 
after taking my seat in that body, I submitted a 
resolution for the appointment of a select commit- 
tee to consider the subject in all its bearings, and 
to report. The resolution was adopted, and a 
committee appointed, of which I was chairman. 
Early in the month of February following, I sub- 
mitted, witli the sanction of the committee, my 
report, which was unanimously adopted by both 
branches of the General Assembly of Virginia, in- 
structing our Senatois, and requesting our Repre- 
sentatives to urge upon the consideration of Con- 
gress, the amendments of the law of 1793, recom- 
mended in that report. These joint resolutions of 
Virginia were laid before the Senate and House of 



6 



Reoresentatives but a few days before the ad- li he done for rreodom because the public conscience is inort 

. ' X r^i T-.1- .• ,1 n \. r.„„ „„,(,„. i^t„ Yoji, much Clin be done, eveiytliing can be cione. Sfaver 

journment of the Thirtieth Congress, and too late , ^.^^^ '^^^ ,,,^,,^g,, „^ j,^ |,^,.,',.,,j ,,^„,d,f. ^ e;,^ j,e amciioraiet 



Sfavery 
prcsi'iit liouna." ; it can ne amcl/oraied. 
Il can he, ami it must he, abolished, and ynu and [ can 
and iniijl (!o it. The lask in a-i siniplc and easy ; s i;s eon- 
sMiiiiiiaiidU vvill be bi-Uf ticeni, and its lewatrts stori:)U^. U 
rrquires on y tn I'ntlnw Ih'S simple rule of action : To do 
everywhc'ip, and on every occasion what we can, and not 
to nealrct or refuse to do what we can al any lime because 
at tiiat precise lime, and on that pariicular occasion wi^ can- 
not do more. Gir: umstances determine pnssibiliiies. Whei> 
we have done nnr bi si to sb.ipe lliein and make lliem ipro- 
pitinus, wemay rest .'■ali~fied that fttpetinr wisdom has de- 
termined their form as they exist and will be saKied wiih 
us if we do all ihe wood that circumsiaiices leave in our 
pirwer. IJiit we must begin deeper and lower than iheciim- 
p i.-iliou and conihinailon of factions or parties wherein ilie 
.strength and si'cmily of stavery lie. You ariswer that it 
lies in the Consiituiion of the United States, and ;he consti- 
unioMS and laws of slaveholdins; Stales. Nut a' all. It is 
in the errnncdus sentiment of the American people. Con- 
stitiUions and law s can no more rise jihove Ihe viitiie uf 
the people, thiu the limpid stream caa climb above ils na- 
tive sprina. Ineiilcale ilie love; of freedom and llie eijaal 
rights of man uiiiler lliepatenia! loof; see to It that ihey 
are taught in ih" schools an<l in the churches; reform your 
own code ; extknd a cordial welcome to the Funnivg 
who tayfhis u-cary limhs at youi- door, and defend him a3 
YOU WOULD YOUR PATERNAL GODS ; correct yiiur -owii er- 
ror, that slavery has any conslilutianal guaranter which 
may not be released ami ot«»/i/ not 1o he rcHnijui-ilta! ; say 
shivery, when it shows ils bondr, and demands il? pound 



for any action upon them at that time. 

1 will here remark, that the day fixed for the j 

consideration of my report in the House of Dele- ! 

gates of Virginia, was the same day upon which 

it had been decreed by the Whigs of New York 

t'lat tliey would elevate William H. Sew.^rd to 

tlie high and disiingui.*hed post of Senator of the 

United States. Having been furnished, a few d.iys 

prior to that time, with a copy of a speech de- 
livered by Mr. Sewakd, at Cleveland, in Ohio, on 

the 26ili of October preceding, I took occasion, in 

my exposition of t!ie report, to direct the solemn 

attention of the Whigs of Virginia to the senti- 
ments contained in that speech, and to inquire of 

them if they could unite in political fellowship 

with a party such as he described the Whigs of 

the North to be. I then took occasion, in the 

most precise and explicit terms, to declare that I 

should thereafter fee! it my duty, as the basis of 

my individual action, to direct my attention more 

to the course of the Whig party of the North, and 

if I found satisfactory evidence of their concur- 
rence in the views and policy here ascribed to ^ 

them by Mr. Sf,W\UD, that "I should, without [i of flesh, llial if it draws one drop of blood its life sliall p<-.>- 

hesitation, separate myself altogether from their j ^^^ l^^')' •:-^,- rU;:^^^^ 

""""" ity can forbear to f;ivor slavery --(bat Conpress can i\< bate— 

tlial Consres.s, at lea-t, can meditate with ihe siavehohlina 
St„(e<— liiat, at least, future generalioiis isiif;ht be boiii^iil 
jnid given up lo fri.(!ilom, aiHTlhal the treasiiies vvasieri in 
the war willi Mexico would have been sufnelent to have 
redeemed millions unborn from bondaje. Do all this, anil 
Inciilcale all this, ii ihe spirit of nnideralioii and Ixnf vo- 
lence, and noi of reialiation and fanaiicism, and you will 
soon biiii"; the parlies o' iht; country into an ejfedire iia^res- 
s)on upon slavery. Whenever the public ndnd .-hail will ^ 
Ihe aboliihin f>f sl.ivery. the way will open for ii. i 

" 1 know Ihal you will lell me Ibis is all too slow. Well, 
then, go faster if yoa can, and I will gy ntUh -inu; bul renieui- 
ber the insnucuvi' lesson that wasiaughl in ihe words,' ihe.-e 
thinus oiii;ln ye lo liave done, and not to have lell the others 
undone.' " 

In three months after the delivery of thi.s. speech, 
which, by the newspapers and in pamphlet form, 
has acquired an exlen.sive circulation, these senti- 
ments were indorsed by the Whigs of New York 
by his elevation to a seat in the Senate of the Uni- 
ted States. On the fifth of March, 1849, he took 
his seat in that body, to advance the great mission 
for which he was elected, and front that day lo the 
, il present, has he stood forward before the country 
'" • • -.:.--r- „.,.; 1 hostile to the 



organization. 

Here is an extract from t!ie speech of Mr. Sew- 
ard, to which I allude: 

"There are two antagonistiad elements of society in 
America — freedom and .slavery. Freedom is in harmony 
witli our system of Government, and with the spirit of the 
age, and is, therefore, passive and quiescent. Slavery is in 
conflict with that system, with ju.Mice, and with humanity, 
and is therefore organized, defensive, active, and perpetu- 
ally aggressive." 

"These elements divide and classify the Aiaierican peo- 
ple into tu'o classes— the party of Freedoin, and the party 
of Slavery. 
scepter." 



Each of these parties has its court and its 



"The party of freedom seeks complete and vnieersal 

emancipation. You, W hios of the lleserve, and you espe- 
cially, secediii? Whij^s, none know so well as you that 
these two elements exist and are developed in the two great 

national parlies of the land, as I have described them. 

That existence and development constitute the onhjreason 

vou can assign for having been enrolled in (lie IVhig party, 

and mustered under its banner, so zealously and so long. 

And now I am not to contend lliat the evil spirit I described 

lias possessed the one partv v/ithout miligatitm or excop 

tion. and fullv directed \h<- actions of the other; but I ap 

pealtoyou, to vour candor and justice, if the beneficen 

spirit has not vvijrked chiefly in the JK/ii^ party, and its an 

tagonist in the adverse party.'' 

****** * 

" Slavery is the sin of not some of the Slates only, but 
of them all— of not our nation only, but of all nations. It 
perverted and corrupted Ihc moral sense of mankind, deep- 
ly universally; and ibis eorriii)lioti became a universalhabit. 
Habits of thought became fixed principles. No American 
State has vet delivered itself entirely from these habits. 
We in New York are guilty of slavery still by withholding 
tberiglU of suffrage from the race we have emancipated. 
You, in Ohio, are guilty in the same way, by a system of 
black lau-s, still more aristocratic and odious. It is written 
in tiie Constitution of the United States, that five slaves 
Bhall count equal to three free men, as a basis of represent- 
ation ; and it is written, also, in in.jUdion of Divine law, 

that we shall surreiKlertlie^/itjitifc stoic who takes a refuge .„,., ..._ i i ,- 

at our fireside from Ills relentless pursuer. You blush not |j ijjn ;,fio,-Je(l tm oiiportumty hlgaly tavoraOie lo 



the impersonation of every sentmif 
interests and in.stitutions of the South. 

Early in the following session of Congress, Mr. 
Mason, of Virginia, in pursuance of the instruc- 
tions of his State, submitted to the Senate a bill to 
carry out the second section, fourth article of the 
Constitution, in relation lo fugitives from labor. 
Had tl-.at bill come before Congress wholly as an 
independent measure of policy, it is difficult to say 
what may have been its fate. But the momentous 
questions growing out of the admission of Califor- 
nia as a State into this Union; the establishment 
of territorial governments for Utah and New Mex- 
ico; and the settlement of the Texas boundary 




man freedom as the inert conscience of the American peo- 
ple will permit it to be ? What, then, yousay' can nothing 



conslilutiug that series of measures, called the at?- 



justment or compromise, were passed early in the 
month of September, 1850, and received the sig- 
nature of President Fiihuore. 

It naturally attracted my attention, after my 
previous acquaintance with the spirit of northern 
State legislation, and especially with the legisla- 
tion of some of the most decided Whig States of 
the North — and after the declarations of principle 
ascribed to the northern Whigs by Mr. Seward, 
in his speech from whicii I have before quoted, to 
notice the political complexion of the vote by 
v/hich this tardy act of justice was rendered to the 
South, and the Constitution at length recognized 
as an instrument giving protection to our rights. 
I found upon examination that noi one single north- 
ern Whig Senator voted for the passage of the law, 
and but three Whigs from the whole non-slavehold- 
ing section of the Union cast their votes for it in 
the House of Representatives, to wit: One from 
the city of Boston — one from Indiana, and one a 
native of Virginia, representing the Chillico the dis- 
trict in Ohio. 

Now, when we consider the plain and perspicu- 
ous language of the guarantee for the delivery of 
fugitive slaves embraced in the Constitution — the 
absolute nullification of the remedy prescribed by 
the act of 179.3, imperfect as that remedy was — 
the solemn declaration of the Supreme Court of 
the United States that we were without the benefit 
of a fundamental provision of the compact to 
which we were entitled — the urgent demand for 
redress from the South — the impending danger to 
the Union consequent upon the denial of a right 
so clear and indisputable, we may well estimate 
the extent and depth of the feeling of the constit- 
uent body which could thus paralyze their rep- 
resentatives upon the floor of Congress, and cause 
them in a body to withhold from us a remedy so 
clearly granted and so urgently required by our 
situation. 

The passage of the compromise acts by Con- 
gress in September, ISoO, was far from termina- 
ting the struggle of the friends of the Union. It is 
true some of those measures became by their 
passage final, and are in their nature irrepeal- 
able. But there was one — that one to which I have 
before more particularly referred — in which the 
South had a vital and peculiar interest, which was 
subject to repeal at any time, and which, whether 
repealed or not, could be of little practical value to 
us unless sustained by a sound public sentiment 
at the North, where it was to be executed. The 
contest, then, so far as that law was concerned, 
was transferred from the Halls of Congress to the 
direct tribunal of the people themselves. Open 
rebellion to the execution of the lav/ was famil- 
iarly proclaimed. Its constitutionality vehemently 
denied. The pulpit, the press, county and cor- 
poration meetings, and legislative assemblies 
thundered their denunciations against it, and 
proclaimed a warfare for its repeal, whilst fero- 
cious mobs were incited and encouraged to resist 
its enforcement. Some idea may be formed of 
the frenzy which animated the opponent.? of this 
measui'e by quoting the sentiments of a convention 
which, during that period, assembled in Pennsyl- 
vania. It was there declared " that George Wash- 
' ington was as infamous and vile for signing the 
'act of n'.)3 as iVIillard Fillmore is for signing 
' the act of 1850; both v/ere infamous; both laws 
'were infamous." Never was there a period 



which more urgently demanded the active influ- 
; ence and patriotic exertions of every sound-think- 
I ing man who possessed influence in the North to 
: allay the spirit of open discontent, and to suppress 
: the treasonable projects of the enemies of the 
! Union. Any man existing in that day, who was 
! blessed with the power to give a sound direction 
to public sentiment, and who, from any purposes 
of selfish and vaulting ambition, withheld the ex- 
ercise of that power, was guilty of a flagrant der- 
eliction of duty which the people of this country 
will never cease to remember to his injury. 

In casting our eyes back to the fall of 1850 and 
the year 1851 , we find the highest intellect and the 
noblest patriotism of the North everywhere in 
motion, and earnest and unceasing in its appeals 
to resist the tide of fanatical resistance of that law, 
then sweeping over the free States. President 
Fillmore, accompanied by a portion of his Cabi- 
net, visited the States of Massachusetts and New 
York, and sought, by the weight of his high char- 
acter, and by the exercise of all of the legitimate 
influence at his command, to soften the excited 
prejudices of the people, and to turn their reflec- 
tions into the current of public duty. Henry 
Clay, from the capital of Kentucky, sent forth a 
warning voice to his friends in the North. Web- 
ster, roused by the magnitude of the danger, trav- 
eled from point to point, and brought the massive 
powers of his mighty intellect to maintain, up- 
hold, and support the supremacy of the Constitu- 
tion and laws. Pierce, Choate, Dallas, Dickin- 
son, Douglas, O'Connor, and a host of others, 
brought all the influence of their abilities and well- 
earned popularity to aid the triumph of the cause 
of constitutional Union. 

As the course of Franklin Pierce is not so gen- 
erally known at this period as that of his three 
more illustrious compeers, and as it is fit and 
proper that it should be better known, I will pre- 
sent from the columns of the National Intelligen- 
cer, of the 28th of November, 1850, a sketch of 
tlie sound and patriotic remarks made by him on 
the 20ih of that month, at a Union meeting held 
at Manchester, in New Hampshire. The whole 
proceedings of the meeting cover near four col- 
umns of that paper: 

"General Pitrce's Speech. — The President then in- 
troduced Geiieriii Franklin Pifirce, and that gallant gentle- 
imn vva? received with enlhnsiasiic cheers. Disclaiming 
any putpose of nialdiig anything like a regular address, he 
said he never before was so much under the influence of 
cnnflictina emotions. There was much in the appearance 
of the assembly that filled his heart with joy; and yet a 
feelins; of sadness oppressed him when he cast fiis eyes over 
that vast, calm, resnlved multitude, and remembered that 
they had gathered there to consider a question, which for 
twenty years, had never been raised in any public body in 
our country. That question was, not whether the Union 
should be perpetual, but whetlier there should be disunion. 

" He was in ihx United Slates Senate when that word was 
heard for Hie first tiuie on that floor, and never shall he for- 
iret the thrill of horror it sent throui;!! that body. A deep and 
solemn pause su 'ceeded, and Senators shuddered as they 
slowly turned their eyes upon ihe bold author of ihe ap- 
palling su^Ltesijoii. But ho had now lived to hear hisses 
while one of the secretaries was reading a resolution in 
favor of (Tnion. [This remark drew hisses, and General 
Pierce proeeede t :] They hiss again. Let the men who 
do it, show tiieinselves. [Up ro-e twoeleraynien, the rev- 
erend Mr. Foss, and the rtvererid Mr. D:ivis.] Here, then, 
said G?neral Pierce, we have two men who seek to destroy 
the Union. [One of them replied : ' No. If you will let~ 
us expliin, we will show you that we do not intend that. 
VVe are willing to meet the question, however, any way.'j 
General Pierce continued. You shall have your opportu- 
nity all in yood time. Lei the discussion coaie, and he that 



8 



Is dereaced, must go to the wall, and yield the question. 
That is the way to manRge such mailers in a fiee country. 
There mu.st be no breakinsr up of the country in case of de- 
feat. If we are precipitated into a war by lanaticisin, we 
cannot conquer. Both secions of the country maybe im- 
molated. Neither could coitie out of the contest short of 
ruin. It was said tluu we of the North could bring two 
men in the field for every one that the South could muster; 
but it would be found, when the trial should come, that 
the man who now makes that boast would not be one of the 
two men who was to go forth to meet even the one man 
from the South. [Gieat cheering.] General Pierce said 
the men, then in ihe hall, who hnd abandoned themselves 
to the infatuation of disunion sentiments, would probably 
live to regret and repent of their present course. In the 
coming days of decrepitude, when the infirmities of age 
shall have crept upon them, they would gather their chil- 
dren around them, and confess how they were once betrayed 
into moral treason, and, as a legacy, say to ihem: ' Stand 
BV YODR Union — and st-^nd by your country!' He 
eaid he deemed it unnecessary to go into a formal argument 
In support of the Uni.iu. The rrsolution embraced all thai 
could be said on tlial subject. When the. cmnproiiiise was 
first propoMed in Congres.^, he had no doubt that the Union 
would go down, unle-s tlie measures recommended were 
caTried. The defeat of the first attempt overwhelmed him 
with apprehension, understanding that the compromise was 
intended lo gioe to the South a sense of greater security, for 
one of their righ'.s than they felt Ihey had for some time past 
possessed. Who did not deplore slavery .' But whatsound- 
ihinking mind regarded that as the only evil that could rest 
upon the land ? The men that would dissolve the Union, 
did not hate or deplore slavery more than he did ; but even 
with it we had lived in peace, prosperity, and security from 
the foundation of our institutions to the present time. If 
Vie Constitution protijiedfor the return of fugiUve stares, it 
SHOULD B!; DONE. Tiiat was what he wanted to do ; that 
was what our fathers agreed i«e slioulddo; and that was 
what the FRIENDS of the Union est.ilili^hed by thtni 
wanted to do. [Hisses.] There, said General P., are the 
arguments of the ' higher law,' I suppose. 

"These provokers of disuuion claimed to be men of hu- 
manity. They were the men who were always preaching 
Rgainst war. Yet how was a peaceable dissoiution of the 
Union to be accomplished? jfone portion of the States 
could secede without violence, how long would peace con- 
tinue .' The slaves would escape ; their ovvners would pur- 
sue them. If the slaves were protected in the free States, 
the owners would pursue with armed forces. Troops would 
be raised to resist ihem ; battalions would be added to bat- 
talions on each side, and l!ie free States would be the battle 
ground where such armies would be found engaged beyond 
what Napoleon ever saw on the most terrific of his bloody 
lattle-fields. It was the fear of such dreadful consequences 
that caused such a universal revolution of feeling through- 
out the Union when the original compromise project failed. 
The eyes of the nation were opened to the niagnitude of 
the danger. Even those who opposed it in Congress felt 
they were standing on the brink of a precipice. There 
eeemed to be no step between disunion and a faithful ad- 
herence to the compact of ihe Union. He knew that was 
the feelinj. Members of Congiess had confessed it. The 
resort to disunion as an experiment to get rid of a political 
evil would be about as wise as if a man were to think of 
remedying abroken arm by cutting his head off. Tile danger 
which would have existed if the compromises hail not been 
passed, would now exist if they were d.^fealed by the action 
of tile opponents of those measures. They were fairly within 
the scope of tiie Constitution, and were to be obeyed with 
the same fidelity as that sacred instrument itself, which a 1 
good citizens must and would stand by while a plank re- 
mained. Happily, ihrouali the lowering clouds of the 
ipassing storm the while clift's of concession were in siaht, 
and the joyful cry was the Union— eternal Union ! [Gen- 
eral Pierce spoke with a free and fiery energy, which cre- 
ated and maintained a lively sen.-alion duiing the whole of 
bis elociuent anil uncompromising speech] 

Who, upon a perusal of this speech — the gen- 
eral accuracy and truthfulness of which cannot be 
questioned — delivered on the 20lh of November, 
1850, and reported in the National Intelligencer on 
the 28th, can fail to see in it the tnost conclusive 
refutation of the misrepresentation recently prop- 
agated of his opinions by a few abolition journals 
of the North.' This .speech alone, covering, as it 
does, all the ground embraced in that fabricated 
report, is sufficient, apart from the mass of over- 



v,7helming testimony bearing upon that point, to 
consign the infamou.s slander- to the contempt of 
every fair and honorable mind. If I were a bitter 
opponent of Franklin Pierce, I would feel it due 
to the truth of history — due to his consistent rec- 
ord in support of southern institutions — demanded 
of me, as a southern man, to trample under foot 
the vile and infamous falsehood ! 

Sir, the men of the North, who were engaged 
in this patriotic struggle to save the Union, werft 
well aware that they were opposing themselves to 
a torrent that might, at least ten^porarily, over- 
whelm them. But they freely elected, for the 
sake of their country, to make, if necessary, a 
sacrifice of themselves. Webster, the most pow- 
erful rnan which the walls of Boston ever encom- 
passed, was, for his course upon this question, 
excluded with ignominy and insult from Faneuil 
Hall, a place which he had so often illustrated and 
adorned by his eloquence. President Fillmore, in 
a speech which he made at Fredericl^burg, Vir- 
ginia, in June, 1851, and to which I had the pleas- 
ure of listening, truly said: 

" When I look back to the crisis thropgh which we have 
passed, I feel that there i.-os danger that the days of the 
Union were numbered. I determined then, if necessary, 
to sacrifice every political prospect I had in the woild, and 
life itself to save the country!" 

And nov/ it may not be uninteresting to inqitire 
how Mr. Sev/ard was emplo5"cd during this pe- 
riod.' We have many facts before us resting upon 
mere newspaper rumors, to which I will not ad- 
vert. But here are a few extracts from a letter 
addressed by him in reply to a convention in 
Boston, called for the purpose of protesting againss 
the fugitive slave law: 

"Auburn, ^pril 5, 1851. 

" Dear Sir : Your Inttrr inviting me to alend a coiiveti- 
tion of (he people of Massachusetts o[iposed to the fugitive 
slave lav/, and lo communicate in writing my opinion flu 
that statute, if I should bs unable lo attend the convention, 
has been received." 

******* 

" It would he an honor to be invited to address the propte 
of Massachusetts on any subject, but it might well satisfy a 
generous ambition to be called upon to speak to that great 
and enlightened cnmniouwealth on a question of human 
rights and civil liberty. 

" F confess, sir, that I have earnestly desired not to min- 
gle in the popular discussions of the measures of the test 
Congress." 

******* 

" r am unwilling even to seem to imply by reiterating af- 
giiments already before the public, eiiher any dislnist of the 
position of those with whom I stood in Coigress, ot impa- 
licnre for that favorable popular nerdiit which 1 believe l<> 
be near, and hriow to be ultiinatehj certain. 

" Nevertheless there can be no impr.'^priety in my declar- 
inu, when !hns questioned, the opinions which will govern 
my vote upon any occasion when the fugitive slave law 
shall come up for review in the Natiinal Legislature. I 
think the act si^rnally unwise, because it is an attempt by a 
purely federative Government to extend the economy of 
slave Slates throughout Stales which repudiate slavery as a 
moral, social, and political evil. Any despotic GoverninelrtJ 
would awiiken sedition from its profoundest slumbers by 
such an alti'm|)l. 

"Th(i attempt by the Gnvernment h.is amused constihi- 
tional resistance which will not cease until Ihe eflbrt shall 
he relirniuislied. He who teaches another faith than llii*, 
whether self-deceived or not, misleads." 

Whilst Seward and his Abolition allies v.-ere 
thus employed in fomenting resistance to the 
execution of this law, the Democracy of Boston 
were not idle; but from the walls of old Faneuil 
Hall'they issued a declaration of their constitutioii- 
al principles in the following terms: 

"Resohed, That Ihe legislative enroreenient of the se«- 
ond section of the fourth article of the United States Con- 



9 



stjtution, which expressly requires that fuzitives from labor 
shall be delivered up to the party to whom such labor shall 
bf due, is one of the vital conrlitions of llie conipiomise, 
Slid was iiitroducpil, carried, and will be suslalned by the 
DcjiiOLracy of Ihe United States." 

Asain, sir, tiuring all this period, from the pas- 
sage of the compromise acts in the imoiith of Sep- 
teiriber, 1850, where was^ Win'field Scott? It 
is well known that he has for many years pos- 
sessed many friends, and exercised considerable 
influence in the North. The exclusive northern 
and sectional vote which he received in the several 
Whig Conventions' of 1840,-'44, and '48, mani- 
fested very distinctly that there was a large class 
of persons in that section, upon whose conduct 
his opinions would have fallen with influence and 
power. Where do we find his voice in all this 
tumult, to still the agitated waves, and to proclaim 
peace to a distracted country ? Amidst all the let- 
ters which were written to the numerous Union 
meetings of the North — by public men who were 
unable personally to attend, we look in vain for 
one single line from that distinguished source. 
Was no' letter of invitation sent to him from the 
great Castle Crarden meeting, of November, 1850, 
none from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Con- 
cord or Manchester.' 

Mr. SCHOONMAKER. Surely the gentle- 
man from Virginia must be aware that General 
Scott made a speech at the Castle Garden meeting 
in New York. 

Mr. FAULKNER. The occa.sion to which 
the gentleman from New York refers was in Feb- 
ruary, 1850, several months before the passage of 
the comproitiise acts. I am examining the course 
of General Scott since the passage of those meas- 
ures. 

Mr. SCHOONMAKER. I think his speech 
was since the compromise acts were passed. 
Mr. FAULKNER. Certainly not. 
Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia. The gentle- 
man from Virginia is correct in his facts. The 
Castle Garden" meeting, at v/hich General Scott 
made some remarks, occurred on the 25th of Feb- 
ruary, 1850. 

Mr. FAULKNER. Sir, was General Scott 
favored with no opportunity ofdeciaring his senti- 
ments, and of throwing the vv-eight of his illustri- 
ous name in behalf of the Union, at this most 
cntical and perilous crisis in its destiny .' It seems 
to me that he ought to have sought the opportu- 
nity, if one did not present itself. Looking to a 
?reat and imperishable fame, such as Fillmore and 
tVebster, by their eff'orts upon that occasion, have 
acquired, and elevating himself far above every 
selfish object of human ambition, he should have 
volunteered a rebuke to that wild and mischievous 
spirit of anarchy which bid fair to shake to its 
foundations the very pillars of our Constitution. 
It was the remark of the celebrated Fox, that 
ignorance in a statesman is crime; and there are 
occasions in public affairs v/hen silence inastates- 
Hian is crime. The period succeeding the passage 
of the compromise acts was one of these occasions. 
During all this period, the only letter that eman- 
ated from the pen of Winfield Scott, so far as I 
am advised, on public affairs, was the following: 
VVashinx-ton, Starch 93, 185!. 
Sir: I have received your lett.r, (marked "confiden- 
tial,") in which, ader committing the error of supposiii!» 
ine to be "fully before the country as the Whii; candidate 
for the Presidency," you procied to interrogate nie on many 
points of i;rave public interest. 



Permit me to sav, that Considering we shall probably only 
have a Whig c.mdidate for tlie Presidency tlirouah a Nation- 
al Convention, and that I cannot be its nominee except by 
the tbrce of the unsolicited partiality of large masses of my 
countrvmen ; — 

Coiisideriig, also, that if my character or principles be 
not alrc-adv known,il would now be idle to attempt to sup- 
ply the deficient information by mere paper professions of 
wUdom anil vrtue made for the occasi:)n ; — 

And, considerlnsr, that if I answer your (queries, I must go 
on and answer others already before me, as well as the long 
series that would inevitably follow, to the disgust of th« 
public ; — 

I will be2 permission to close this acknowledgment or 
your letter by subscribing myse f, 

With artat respect, your obedient servant, 

" WINFIELD SCOTT. 
, Esq., Harrisburs, Pennsijlvania. 

But General Scott did not merely sin by his re- 
fusal to answer — he sinned to a much deeper ex- 
tent by the direct countenance which his silence 
and acquie-scence gave to those who arrayed them- 
selves in hostility to the compromise policy. 

And this leads me to advert to some incidents 
in the proceedings of the two great parties of the 
country in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, 
and Ohio, subsequent to the passage" of the com- 
promise acts. I select those three States because 
i it would consume too much tiiTie to review the 
action of all of the northern States; second, be- 
' cause these three constitute the leading and con- 
i trolling States of the North, and by their power 
\ and influence give a tone and direction to public 
sentiiTient in that section; and lastly, because of 
their especial connection in bringing before the 
! nation the name of Winfield Scott for the Presi- 
I dency. 

On the 10th day of September, 1850, immedi- 
ately subsequent to the passage of the compromise 
measures, and whilst the comprontiise Congres.s 
was still in session, the Democratic State Conven- 
tion of New York assembled at Syracuse. Fronn 
that convention a cheering voice issued, " congrat- 
' dating the country upon the recent settlement 
' by Congress of the questions which had unhap- 
'pily divided the people of these States;" and 
" deprecating all sectional agitation at the North 
' or South, calculated to iin-pair its sacred obligaliona, 
' or to threaten its perpetuity." 

On the 26th September, 1850, (Congress still in 
session,) the f-r/n^ State Convention of Nev7 York, 
assembled likewise at Syracuse. From this Con- 
vention no voice issued approving the compro- 
mise — none deprecating further agitation of sec- 
tional issues — l)ut, on the contrary, resolutions 
were adopted virtually repudiating the compro- 
mise, and' declaring it to be the solemn duty of 
Congress, notwithstanding the perilous crisis 
through which we had just passed, " to extend 
' the anti-slavery ordinance over Utah and New 
'Mexico, on the first indication that slavery was 
'likely to be introduced into those Territories." 
Thus opening afresh the bleeding wounds of the 
country, and "kindling with renev.^ed frenzy the fir« 
of sectional agitation and strife. 

The Whigs'of New York did not stop here, but 

they passed the most marked resolution, tendering 

the warmest thanks of tlie convention to Wil- 

I LiAM H. Seward, distinguished as the course of 

1 that gentleman eminently wa.=:, by hostility to the 

! comproiTiise, and more especially to the fugitive 

slave law. It is true, some thirty meinbers of the 

convention seceded from this body, upon the 

! ground, as they declared in their address, " that 



10 



' the design of the convention was to convert the 
' Whig party of iliis State into an Abolition party, 
' or rather to destroy the Whig party, and to build 
' up an Abolition party upon its ruins;" and yet, 
even tiiese seceders, at a subsequent convention 
held at Utica, ratified all the nominations made by 
the Syracuse Convention, and amongst others, the 
nomination of Washington Hunt as the candidate 
for the office of Governor, who had previously 
publicly declared, in a letter addressed by him to 
the president of the seceding convention, that he 
deplored the passage of the fugitive slave law in 
its present form, and expressed himself in favor 
of such modifications of it as must have deprived 
it of all value to the South. 

In this Syracuse Convention no recommenda- 
tion was made for a candidate for tlip Presidency. 
It occurred too shortly after the approval by Mr. 
Fillmore of the fugitive slave law to justify any 
such formal action. But it is a fact, asserted upon 
this floor, and not denied, that immediately after 
the approval by Mr. Fillmore of the fugitive slave 
law, the name of General Scott as a candidate for 
the Presidency was placed at the head of every 
paper in New York under the influence of Mr. 
Seward. Time had not yet been given to put that 
machinery in motion which was destined to im- 
pair the confidence of the people of New York in 
one, a native and resident of the State, whose 
elevated and patriotic character was known to 
them, and upon whom they had so recently cast 
their votes for the second office in the gift of the 
people, and who, by the death of General Taylor, 
had now succeeded to the first. The most decis- 
ive blow that these political managers could at that 
early period venture upon, was to express their 
distinguished confidence in William H. Seward — 
t)ie man who stood before the State the avowed 
antagonist of Mr. Fillmore — who condemned with- 
out reserve his whole policy, and who was then 
preparing to marshal his well-drilled forces to over- 
whelm and crush him in the North. 

At a somewhat later period — ni the summer of 
1851 — the Pennsylvania Whig Convention a-^sem- 
bled. The avowed purpose of calling this meeting 
was the nomination of State officers; but it was | 
deemed a very fit and appropriate occasion to usher 
the name of Winfield Scott before the country as 
a candidate for tlie Presidency. Accordingly, 
William F. Johnson, whose free-soil opinions and 
hostility to the fugitive slavelaw were well known, 
and who then held in his pocket, and who refused 
feis executive sanction to the bill repealing tlie un- 
justand detestable "oljstruction law," was renomi- 
nated for the office of Governor. In this same 
convention a resolution was submitted to this effect: 

" Resolued, That the provisions of the Constitution in 
reference to the rendition of fugitives iield to service or 
labor, demand, and shall receicc from our jinrly, a. faithful, 
inauly, and unequivocal .support." 



Which was promptly voted down by an overwhelm- 
ing majority. And Winfield Scott, who, it will 
be recollected, had, on the 26th of March preced- 
ing, refused to give his opinions upon any of the 
public questions upon which he was interrogited, 
was formally recommended for the Presidency. 

Thus do we find the name of General Scott for 
the first time during the present canvass, brought 
to the notice of the American people by an organ- 
ized convention. That name associated with Free- 
Soilers and enemies of the compromise, and 



brought before the country by a convention which 
in express terms rejects the maintenance of the 
fugitive slave law as a principle of its party associ- 
ation. 

Governor Johnson, in his act of accepting the 
nomination thus tendered to him, declares, "The 
fugitive slave law is as open to modification and 
repeal as the tariff' of 1846." 

And thus was the Whig canvass opened in 
1851, under the broad banner of Scotland Johnson, 
by an open and avowed warfare upon the finality 
of the compromise acts. 

Now, let us turn for a moment to the action of 
the Democratic State Convention of Pennsylvania, 
held at Reading, about the same period, in 1851: 

'• Resolved, Tliat the sixth section of the art of the Le- 
Cislalure of Pennsylvania, passed on the 3d of March, 1847, 
denying, under severe penalty, the use of our State jails for 
the detention of fugitive slaves while awaiting their trial, 
ought to be expunged from our statute-book, both because it 
interposes obstacles, by means of Slate legislation, to the 
execution of the provisions of the Constitution of the United 
States, and because it is a virtual disregard of the principles 
of the compromise, and is calculated seriously to endanger 
the existence of the Union. 

" Rcsoheil, That the Democratic party of Pennsylvania 
are true to the Union, the Constitution, and the laws, and 
will faithfully observe and execute, so far as in them lies, 
all the measures of compromise adopted by the late Con- 
gress for the purpose of settling the questions arising out of 
domestic slavery ; and this, not only from a sense of duty 
as good citizens of the Republic, but also from the kind anil 
fraternal feelings which they cherish towards their brethren 
ofthe slaveholding States." 

Again: at a subsequent convention the follow- 
ing resolution was adopted: 

" Resolved, That the Democracy of Pennsylvania win 
maintain with fidelity and energy the faithful execution of 
the fugitive slave law; and that we pledge ourselves to exert 
our best efforts to secure the speedy repeal of such portions 
ofthe ' State obstruction law' as deny the use of our jails 
for the detention of tiigiti ves fro.n labor while awaiting their 
trial, or in any other maimer interfere with the constitit- 
tional rights of citizens of our sister States in reclaiming 
their property." 

Here, then, was an issue fully, fairly, and dis- 
tinctly joined in Pennsylvania, and to which the 
whole country looked with the deepest and most 
anxious interest. 

About the same period a Whig State Conven- 
tion was held in Ohio. Resolutions weVe adopted 
repudiating the comproinise as a measure of Whig 
policy — refusing to recognize its validity as an ad- 
justment — nominating for the office of Governor, 
Samuel F. Vinton — a gentleman who had the pre- 
vious session voted against the fugitive slave law, 
and who was one of lis most prominent and d«- 
termiiied opponents — atid recommending Winfield 
Scott for the Presidency. 

A Democratic State Convention assembled in 
Ohio. 1 find no resolution adojited by this corv 
vention approving or disapproving of the com- 
promise acts. Reuben Wood v/as nominated as 
their candidate for Governor. What his opinions 
were prior to his nomination I do not know. I 
liave heard it charged that they were unsound on 
this question. It may be so. But the National 
Intelligencer of the 2L)th January last, transfers to 
its columns liis inanguial address, and accompa- 
nies the publication of it with the expression of its 
gratification "at its sound conservative sentiments 
in reference to the compromise." 

Referring to the compromise, he says: 

" Under all the circumstances v.hich surround us, w 
SHOULD HEMAi.s UNDISTURBED, and tliis fruitful soarca of 
agitation aud escitement be FoaavEE closed." 



11 



Now, sir, who can fixil to perceive in the move- ij 
ments of these three powerful States — led on by \] 
Seward, Johnson, anrl Vinton— a fixed and settled j 
purpose to arrange the campaign for the pending j; 
presidential election; to array the Whigs of these I 
States, and of the North, against the finality ofj; 
the compromise; to rekindle the fires of sectional : 
discord; to make the fugitive slave law the basis :•, 
of political agitation; and to rally the whole anti- [| 
slavery feeling of the North, with a view to the j 
organization of a great and triumphant sectional [ 
parly? Hostility to the compromise as a final 
pacification of the distracting questions involved, . 
was openly and pui)licly proclaimed by all con- : 
cerned in these political movements. And Win- |l 
field Scott, whether with or without his consent, \\ 
was selected by them as the favorite and chosen [ 
instrument to accomiilish their purposes. \\ 

Mr. STANTON, of Ohio. Is the £:entleman i 
from Virginia aware that Mr. Vinton did not re- ! 
ceive the aliolilion vote.' but that there was at the [ 
same election a Free-Soil candidate for Governor, ], 
who received upv,'nrds of si.xteen thousand votes.' i 
Mr. FAULKNER. This may be, and doubt- \' 
less is, a.s slated by the gentiemin from Ohio. 
But I do not perceive how the fact affects my ar- 
gument. It only shows that there were si.xteen 
thousand voters who carried their hostility to I 
slavery even beyond the point taken by Mr. Vin- i 
ton. Now, sir, is it siifTicient for gentlemen to 
say to me that General Scott was personally and 
individually, during this ]ieriod, favorai)!e to the 
compromise.' That, in his private .talk with his: 
friends, lie so expressed himself? Will this lessen 
the grave objection to his course? In the estima- | 
tionof many will it not aggravate it? Can it be 
possible that he was ignorant of the oliject and 
purpose for which his name was invoked by this 
Free-Soil triumvirate? Could he be unconscious 
that he was lending his great name to give to them '. 
influence and power — to enable ihem to crush ail 
the true friends of the compromise throughout the 
North — and to build ujj a great sectional party upon 
principles hostile to the peace and tranquillity of I 
tlie [Jnioii? Can any rational mind account for 
the determined silence of General Scott on these 
questinns, after the date of their passage, in defi- 
ance of all the appeals made to him, except upon 
the idea that it v/as one of the conditions of their i 
support, and the presumed condition of his sue- > 
cess? It is manifest that a renev/al of sectional i 
agitation was at this time the preordained policy | 
of the northern Whigs — a fact to be inferred not j 
only from their almost unanimous refusal to vote 
for the fugitive slave law, but from the subsequent ! 
declarations of their party conventions, declining ' 
to acquiesce in it. And to enable them to carry , 
on that agitation successfully under the banner of i 
■ Winfield Scnti, all that they required of him was, 
that he should abstain from writing or publishing 
any opinion in conflict with their purposes and 
policy. 

Sir, when I see to what extent they have already 
succeeded in the North in crushing such men as 
Millard Fillmore and Daniel Webster — true and 
tried friends of the Constitution and of the Union — 
when I see in such undisguised characters every- 
where throiigii tliat section of the Union, the man- 
ifestations of iheir influence and power, I tremble 
to think what might now have been the condition 
of thia country if the firmness and patriotism of 



the Democratic party, aided by a noble band of 
national Whigs, had not, by the results of the 
elections of 1851, thwarted their incipient move- 
ments of agitation. Had Johnston, upon the issues 
involved in his election, triumphed in Pennsylva- 
nia — had Vinton triumphed in Ohio, with Ilunt, 
the previous fall, successful in New York, I sol- 
emnly believe that a concerted and powerful move- 
ment would have been commenced fnv the repeal 
of that law, which must liave led to the most fatal 
consequences to our political system. From this 
catastrofihe we were saved — saved by the firmness 
and loyalty of the Democratic party, aided by 
Union Whigs; and the opponents of the compro- 
mise policy were thus taught a lesson of prudence 
and discretion, which has suspended, for a time, 
at least, their warfare against our institutions. To 
General Scott we certainly are not indebted for 
our es-ape from this impending danger; for it was 
against the combined names of Scott and Johnston 
in Pennsylvania, and Scott and Vinton in Ohio, 
that the battle was fought, and the cause of the 
compromise and of the Union triumphed in that 
struggle, in defiance of the name of Winfield Scott 
arrayed against it. 

In the month of August, 1851, I became a can- 
didate for a seat in the House of Piepresentatives 
of the United States. The position which I occu- 
pied in my canvass, will appear from a letter pub- 
lished by me in March, 1852. It was circulated 
by the newspapers, and in pamphlet form, in every 
portion of my district; and I am yet to learn that 
any man in the district has questioned the correct- 
ness of a single statement contained in it. 1 will 
make the following extracts from it: 

"In announcin? myself as a caniiiflalo for ConjfPss, I 
dirt so upon thi: plalf'irin of the Union coNsTrruTioNAU 
PARTY OK THE SouTH. Tlirit platlbiiii pr«.seiile(t a tew 
(iistinet and rt( finite issues for tejnriginiMit r)f tlii! people. 
As such it was adopted and inrxie llie basis of political 
oisanization in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and e%ery 
oMier portion of tlie soutiiern couiitry where the diversity 
of opinion and the agitation of the public mind rendered 
such a contest necessary or proper, Tliai plalforni pre- 
sented, as controlling and ab>fjrbin2 issues, the ti.'iality of 
the compromise measures of 18.30, the faithful execulion of 
the fusilive slave law wilhin the limits of the Union by all 
the power of the Government, whether resisted by States, 
ciiles, mobs, or individuals, and a denial of the riyht of a 
State to resume at its pleasure the poweis which it has 
conferred upon the G"neral Government, anil tiiereby to 
destroy Ihe force of Federal legislation within its limils, 
and to place herself beyond the pale of her respoiisiliilities 
as a member of the Union. I expressly declar d lliat I did 
not present myself b'-fore the district as a Whij! ; that I 
neither expr-cted nor desired any man to regard or support 
me as .sneh ; that so far as my senlimenls upon the issues 
above set forth v.'ere acceptable to the people, whether 
VVhigs or Democrats, [ claimed their suffrages — so far as 
they dissented from on those questions, I did nnt expect 
iheii support. I expressly (ejected from my public discus- 
sion all of the old party issues as obj-rilete or immaterial, 
and slaked my eleciinn wholly upon those liiuher and greater 
questions upon which I believed the peace and integrity of 
the Union depended. I thereby became identified in posi- 
tion and principle with that inlre|iid and patriotic orcaniza- 
lion which in Georgia. Alabama, and Mississippi cast aside 
all former bonds and li^'aments of party, and entered into 
new combinations to maintain the peace and tranquillity of 
the conniiy. The tenth Congressional district of Virginia 
exhibited, upon a small scale, the precise contest ihat was 
at the same time so fiercely and furinusly waging in the 
more southern States. The same argiimen!, the same 
principles, the same objects, the same disregard of former 
parly associations, maifced iheir strngjles and ours; and 
not a man that gave me his support but lool<r;d with the 
same anxiety, and sympathized with as sincere a joy at Ihe 
triuinj)!! of the gallant Colib of Georgia, and of the indoin- 
ilahle Foote of .Mississippi, as they did at my election. 
Whigs and Democrats alike generously sustained me — the 
WUigs ia a much larger proportion Ihan the Democrats 



12 



yet amor.jrst the bitteregt and most unscrupulous of those 
who assailed me in ihe canvass were Whigs— airionjrst the 
most a: dent and zealous of my sniiporters were Democrats. 
No other issue was presented in my election — not another 
pledge asked or expected of me." 

******* 

"If there is a policy, which, beyond all others, I am 
rriedged to maintain hy the cinunistances of my elfction, 
it is the fip.alily of the compromise measures of 18.'0, and 
with it the iaiililul exfcntion of tliefuailive slave law ; nor 
could I, without dishonor, cooperate with any paily tliat 
does not in some satisfactory mode make a strict oiiseivaiice 
of those measures a cardinal and fundamental canon of its 
political creed." 

******* 

" I feel no hesitation iu declarin™ that if the Philadelphia 
Convenlion shall adjourn wi.hout a cleiir, distinct, and un- 
equivocal aiinunc aiinn of its adhertnce to the compromise 
acts of Irf.'jO^ — liall f il to plediie the VVhii; party, North anil 
South, to a stern and intlexihle ex cution of the fugitive 
slave law, and shall notninate, as the organ and exponent 
of its views, a man who shall pertinaciously withliold from 
an anxious and impatient public liis pcd^es upon tho^c ques- 
tions — I shtdl not iie found anmng those who will cooperate 
in the support of any such nominee." * * * 

"So in like inainer, if the Ballimore Convention shall 
iKljoutn without a distinct declaration of its views on these 
questions, and .^hail nominate a man uncommittid hefore 
the public in these issiuis, it would with me be a conclusive 
reason against the support of any such nomiitee. 

"VVillioiit suggesting the various alternatives which will 
naturally present themselves to every mind, it may be suf- 
ficient, with a view to have myself distinctly understood, 
to say that my opinion is cow prec i-ely what il w.is during 
niy canvass for a scat in Congress : I regard the peace and 
harmony of this nation as of in'iiitely more importaii e 
than the mere fact of wliether a Whig or a Democrat fills 
tile executive chair, and 1 shall, in the n^xt presidential 
contest, be eoverned in my choice hy the indiviihuds n spect- 
ively nominated, and by the assurance which such nomin- 
ations, and the platlbrm of principles which they may an- 
nounce, shall givi- me of their soundness a id fidelity upon 
these great and vital cjuestions oi' national policy." 

Elected, as I then was, to Congress, to carry 
out principles a.s congenial vvitii my own feelings 
as they were conducive to tlie iiest interests of the 
country, the o]iyiortunity v/as soon presented of 
recording my own sentiments in regard to them, 
and of observing the course of the two political 
parties on tiie same interesting subject. 

On the 1st of March, Mr. Fitch, of Indiana, 
submitted to the House the following resolution: 

" Kcso'ye/J, That we recosnize the binding efiicacy of the 
oompromisps of the Constitution, and believe it to be the in- 
tention of the people generally, as we hereby declare it to 
be ours, imlividiially, to abide such cnmpromi.=;es : and that 
we deprecate all further agitation of questions growing out 
of the provi-ions embraced in the acts of the last Congress 
known as the compromise, and of questions geiu rally con- 
nected with the institulion of slavery,as unnecessary, use- 
less, and daiigetoiis.'-* 

On the 5ih of April, 1852, Mr. Hillyer, of 
Georgia, submilled the following resolution: 

" Resolrcd, That the series of acts passed during '.he first 
seBsion of the Thirty-first Congress, known as the eompro- 
niise, are regard: d as a final ailjustment and a p-rninnent 
settlement of the questions therein embraced, and sh uld be 
regarded, maintained, and exeeiited as such." 

Thi.s resolution also received the vote of but 
twelve northern Whigs — although, as it will be 
perceived, no special allusion was contained either 
m Hillyer's or Fitch's resolutions to the fugi- 
tive slave law. 

On the same day, Mr. Jackson, of Georgia, 
submitted the following resolution — upon which 
the vote was also taken by yeas and nays: 

" Rpsoli el. That wi' recognize the bindinc ellicacy of 
the com(iromisesof the Constitution, and believe il to be Ihe 
intention oi ilie [leople senerally, as we hereby declare it to 
be ours iiidiviiiimiiy, to abide sucli compromises, :ind to >ns- 



*This resolution received the votes of bu^ twelve north- 
ern Whigd. 



tain the laws necessary to carry them out — tlie provisions fbr 
the ilciivery of fugitive slaves, and the act of the last Con^rcst 
for thnt purpose, included ; and that we deprecate all further 
agitaiioi of questions growing out of thai provision of the 
questions embraced in the acts of the last (Congress knov»rn 
as the compromise, and of questions generally connected 
with Ihe institution of slavery, as unnecessary, useless, ami 
dangerous." 

This resolution, in which, for the first time, ref- 
erence is made to the fugitive slave law, received 
but seven northern Whigvotes in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, and amongst those seven not a single 
friend to the nomination of Winfield Scott for the 
Presidency. 

It will thus be perceived, by reference to the 
record, that if the fate of Jackson's resolution had 
depended upon the vote of the northern Deirio- 
crats, it would have been sustained by the tri- 
umphant majority of 35 to 22 — that i.*, a majority 
of nearly two to ove. Had the fate of the same 
resolution depended upon the vo^e of the north- 
ern Whigs only, it would have been voted down 
by a majority of 30 to 7, — more than four to one. 
If it had depended for its support upon the northern 
Scott party, it would not have received a single 
vote. 

On the 20th of April last, a Whig Congres- 
sional caucus assembled in the Senate Chamber, in 
pursuance of a call " to consider matters of im- 
portance to the Whig party. " Mr. Marshall, of 
Kentucky, submitted to that meeting a resolution 
j " that they regard the series of acts known as the 
I 'compromise measures, as forming, in their inu- 
I ' tual dependeiice and connection, a systern of 
[ ' compromise the most conciliatory and the best 
1 ' for the entire country that could be obtained from 
j ' conflicting sectional interests and oiiinions; and, 
i ' therefore, they ought to be adiiered to, and car- 
I ' ried into faitliful execution as a final settlement, 
' in principle and in substance, of the dangerous 
; ' and exciting subjects which they emijrace." 
; This resolution was ruled to be out of order, and 
i the opinion of the Chair sustained by a vote of 46 
i to 21. Eleven southern Whigs thereupon seceded 
I froin the caucus, to wit: Humphrey Marshall, of 
I Kentucky; Meredith P. Gentry and Christopher 
I H. Vv^illiams, of Tennessee; David Outlaw and 
Thomas L. Clingman, of North Carolina; Jack- 
son Morton and E. Carrington Cabell, of Florida; 
John Moore and J. Arlstide Landry, of Louisiana; 
James F. Strother, of Virginia; and W. Brooke, 
I Senator from Mississippi. 

I take the following extract from their address to 
the Whigs of the Uiuted States, published in th« 
National Intelligencer of the 29tli of April, 1853: 
" By a reference to the list of pt^rsons who participated 
in these proceedings, it will be peiceived there was a great 
dispatity in the representation from the free Stites and th« 
siavehoiding States. We are authorized to state that sev- 
eral gentlemen from the siavehoiding s5iates, belonging to 
the Whig party, declined to participate at all in a me<itin§; 
of which the result was palpable, under the intimaiions of 
purpose advanced by the chairman at the first mceiinu'. 

"Tlie meeting was eointJoseil of foriy-six geniletrien 
from the free States, and twenly-one from the slavehi'ding 
States. Thi' vo e is divided, forty-six to iwenty-oii»— 
seven from each claiss of Siates voting with the oppofing 
section. 

'■ The entire meetini was a meager majority of th" rep- 
resentation classed as Wliigs in the Onsress of Ihe Uiuted 
States. Tlie quota from Ihe siavehoiding Swt"s remaining 
ill the meeting after our withdrawal was jnst one fourth ef 
the Whig rep esrntation from the slaveholdio'T States. The 
deierminaiion of ihe time and place for ihe Whig National 
Convention may, ihen^fore, justlv be considered as made 
bv the Congrtssional Representatives fiom the free Statftn. 
"« Of the members of Congress from the free ."Stales prsa- 



13 



CTrt and adiiig in this niueiing, a large m;ij"niy were com- 
mjiterf, by lei;i?lative action, against llie coiiiproMiise meas- I 
wres at tlifir |>ns:i::ge,or have relnscd to fxpri'ss an inlKn- i 
tjon to maintain and exHcnte ttiein finre their passage. I 
Anioi." ihot^o wiiotiiok part in these procpidii.g^iwere soini' | 
of lhe''nii)st conspicuous oppoiuiits of the arijusUnent and i 
most active agitators of the Ni>rtn. Of tiie thirty-one Rep- .j 
resentalives ("loin tlie free States \vho vntod affirniaiivcly on ■■ 
the proposition that the appeal do lie on the table, only i; 
Uiree lia.1 recorded their votes In favor of the paasaie of] 
lllLi-YER's resoliiiion at this session, expressing as the | 
•ense of the country that the compromise measures should || 
be maintained as a fiisal oettlenieiil of the questions they ;| 
mibracert, nod should be fairly and , honestly executed, i 
Nineli-en had voted .igainst tlvat resolution. Nine were 
absent. These, united to the vole of the Senators, would 1 
have been sufficient to overpower the whole repiesentation | 
present ironi the slaveholditig States, hail that representa- 1| 
lion been united. VVc will not dsvell upon the consider- }: 
wions these facts smi^cst, or express the ri-fleetions which , 
they naturally awaken. It is apparent, however, that the | 
lime and placn have been determined, not only by a mi- ; 
nority of the Whin representation, but by a preponderance j 
c»f that element of the representation which eitlier opposed 
Uie adjusttDcnl or disavows the Miiiahty ' of the settle- 
ment." 

I have tlius shown conclusively from the record, 
that the northern Whig.s arrayed themselves in a ; 
body aj^ainstthe passage of the fugitive slave law ; 
— a mea.sureof vital and indispensable importance ; 
to our interests — essential to give validity to a ; 
fundamental guarantee of (he Constitution, and | 
imimately connected with the preservation of the 1 
l>€ace and integrity of the Union. I have shown ; 
that .shortl/ subsequent to its pas.=inge, in three of | 
the most powerful States of the .Union, they ar- 
ranged their organization so as to accoinplish its 
niodificalion or repeal — a result which could not 
have been attained without a sectional struggle of | 
n most perilous character — and that from the pas- 
sage of the law down to the tneeting of the Balti- | 
more Whig Convention, not one word approving I 
or acquiescing in its enactment, so far as I am ad- 
vised, is to be found issuing from any of the recog- i 
nized Whig political organizations of the North. ' 
I might cite many facts and details illustrating this | 
same Sjurit and policy, but I have preferred to ; 
rely upon the authentic, recognized, unquestion- 
able expositions of party action, exhibited under 
its most solemn and impressive forms. 

The National Whig Convention assembled in 
Ditltimore on the IGili of .Tune, exhibiting before 
the country a sectional division in i's ranks upon 
a great, momentous, and practical question wilh- 
otU precedent in party annals. The northern 
Whigs, who had never, upon any previous occa- 
sion, recognizetf the justice and obligatory force j 
of the fugitive slave law, presenting the name of 
Winfield Scott for the Presidency; and the south- 
ern Whigs, v/ho had determined that this occasion 
should not pass by without a distinct recognition 
of it, presenting the name of Millard Fillmore — 
the individual who had signed and approved the 
bill. 

The recent secession of the southern Whigs 
from the Congressional caucus — the fullness of 
the representation from that section of the Union, 
cmbraciiia^ a delegation from States where there 
are scarcely the semblance of any Whig organi- 
zation — all portended that a struggle was at hand, 
pregnant vith the fate of the present and future 
destines of t\\e party. The northern and south- 
ern wings held their respective conclaves in the 
spirit of beligerent factions. The southern mem- 
bers adopted a platform of principle, which they 
«iused to be communicated to their northern 



allies, with the distinct declaration that unleaa 
adopted they would take no part in the proceed- 
ings of that Convention. It was soon ascertained 
that the full representation from the southern 
States, combined with the few Fillmore and Web- 
ster delegates from the North, would be sufficient, 
by a mere majority vote, to carry the resolution 
before the Convention. 

A portion of the friends of General Scott, per- 
ceivin? that the resolutions must pass, and satisfied 
that all opposition to t'lem was vain, made a vir- 
tue of necessity, and concurred in their adoption. 
They were determined to carry their favorite can- 
didate, and if an acquiescence in a resolution pro- 
pounded against th.eir known and uniform party 
sentiments, could accomplish that result, and 
which had no legal, and could have hut little moral 
influence upon their constituents, they considered 
it purchased at a cheap sacrifice. It was obvious 
to any indifferent spectator of the scene that tli* 
Convention could have but one of two results — 
that the South must carry its compromise resolu- 
tion, or tiie Convention would breakup in a row; 
and that the North must have its candidate, or the 
same result would follow; and concessions were 
made only so far as it was necessary to harmonize 
in these results. How far the high eontractin^g 
parties in this political arrangement were satisfied 
with their work, it is not for me to say, but that 
the original, inherent vice in the constitution of 
\ this discordant and ill-assorted body, will continue 
to develop itself until the close of the election, I 
have no manner of doubt; and we shall see every 
day the increasing evidences of a repudiation of 
the platform by the northern Whigs, and of a re- 
pudiation of the nominee by the southern Whigs. 

What assurance can I derive from a calm sur- 
vey of all the circumstances attending that Con- 
vention, that the fixed, well-settled Whig senti- 
ment of the North, such as I have shown it in my 
remarks, has undergoneany material change since 
the adoption of that resolution? What evidenc* 
have I, in the past, that the northern Whigs will, 
in the practical affairs of legislation, treat that 
policy with respect or deference.' What, that 
the principle there announced, has been adopted 
with a sincere purpose to stand by and abide it? 
Do I not see prominent and distinguished northern 
Whigs around and about me, in this Hall, who 
Kay, that whilst they accept the nominee, they re- 
ject the platform ? And what do we learn from the 
columns of one of the ablest, most influential, and 
widely-circulated organs of the Scott party in New 
York — I mean the Tribune. In speaking of the 
principles of the platform, he says: 

"They were i^ever intended to be a statement of the 
grounds whereon the Whi? party is united and tiie ends 
which it unanimously meditates. On the contrary, they 
were forced upon a portion of the delegates in full view of 
the fad that they did not express their convictions — were 
driven through by the argument of menace and terror — 
were rammed down by the potent intimations, ' Swallow 
in silence or we bolt !' Yet, in the face of every entreaty 
and threat, sixty-six of the delegates, {seventy as we count.) 
voted No, when the yeas and nays vi'ere called on their pas- 
sage. Here was one fourth of the Conveiition whom not 
even the imperiling, of the non.ination of their beloved cnn- 
duhJe, and the prospect of breaking up the party, couid de- 
ter from protesting against the gross wrong." 

The three great States of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Ohio alone, under all the circumstances 
here described, casts forty-three votes against the 
platform. 



14 



The platform adopted may be used as a pretext 
to satisfy some, but in my judgment the case pre- 
sented is not m.ilerially variant from the failure to 
adopt any pleafbrm at all. The southern Whigs 
■were already known to be perfectly sound upon 
the question involved, and the case is notclianged 
as to them; and the northern Whigs were equally 
as well known to be unsound upon this subject, 
and I cannot perceive that any modification or 
revolution in their opinions has occurred since. 

Neither do I perceive anything in tiie terms in 
which General Scott has accepted the nomination 
of that Convention, which places him in a more 
satisfactory re'ation to the compr<miise policy than 
he occupied prior to his nomination. His accept- 
ance is unaccompanied with a single syllable of 
approval of that measure, and is without one soli- 
tary expression of opinion in favor of it:-; wisdom 
or policy. Give the most favorable construction 
to his language which his friends claim for it, and 
the utmost that can be inferred from it is that so 
long as it exists upon the statute-book as a law, 
he will, if elected, have the law executed. This 
is no more than his olncial oath requires of him, 
no matter how much at heart opposed to it. 

Can you, from anything that appears before the 
public, claim the benefit of his name and authority 
to recommend it as a wise and judicious policy to 
the favorable judgment of the people? "Will a vote 
for General Scott imply an approval of tliat policy? 
Will he so wield his Executive influence if elected, 
and so dispense the patronage of the Government, 
as to give strength and power to the friends of that 
policy against its enemies? So far from it, that he 
distinctly announces that he will not (a la mode 
Fillmore) attempt, by proscription, to reduce his 
supporters to exact conformity of oj'.inion upon 
this or any other question. Will he, if the cne 
mies of the South a!)d of the Constitution should 
accomplish a repeal of that law, interpose his veto, 
and save tlie country from the terrible consequence 
of such an act? We are told by those upon this 
floor v/ho profess to know and speak his senti- 
ments, that he would not, in such a case, interpose 
his veto; that such an exercise of the veto power 
would not be in accordance with Whig principles. 
In what conceival)le form, then, I should be pleased 
to learn, can the election of Winfield Scott contrib- 
ute to the peace of this Union, by giving stability 
and firmness to the compromise policy of 1850? 
Will any gentleman inform me? 

Now, sir, I have desired to record m.y vote on 
this pending contest for some one whose election 
might be claimed as the Iriuviph of tkat policy; for 
Bome one whose history, whose acts, v/hose opin- 
ions were so identified with that wise atid conserv- 
ative policy, that every vote cast for him would 
have been a declaration in favor of tlie policy itself. 
I would have been pleased to record my vote for 
that eminent man, whose name will forever appear 
on the rolls of legislation, appended to the law, as 
having constitutionally sanctioned and approved 
it, and v/ho has sought honestly and faithfully to 
execute it. In the history of General Scott, I can 
find nothing to come up to this just expectation 
and wish. The records of my country, so far as 
I am advised, exhibit no connection of his with 
the success of this measure, or with its triumph 
before the great tribunal of public opinion. His 
public acts and declarations do not point to him as 
one of its champions and defenders. But his name 



has been unhappily brought before the country in 
association with those wlio are acknowledged to 
be amongst its ablest and most inexorable oppo- 
nents. 

Sir, in my judgment it v/as the imperative duty 
of the Whig party, in its recent Convention, dis- 
regarding all temporary ends of expediency, and 
looking solely to the permanent welfare of the 
country, to have nominated Millard Fillmore as 
its candidate; not, surely, as any personal com- 
pliment to him, but with the view to justify some 
claim upon the confidence of the country. In no 
other mode, upon the issues involved in that nom- 
ination, was it possible to give nationality to the 
Whig party. It is not often that the personal for- 
tune of any single individual is thus bound up 
with national results. But events, for the past 
few years, had so concurred as to impress that 
character upon recent movements. In rejecting 
Mr. Fillmore, the Whig party virtually disavowed 
that policy of which he was the exponent and rep- 
resentative. In selecting G-eneral .Scott it yielded 
to the embrace of those principles which had 
brought him in successful antagonism to his rival. 
The policy of Mr. Fillmore was national; it was 
conservative; it recognized the binding efficacy of 
constitutional guarantees; and it enforced them, 
because the Constitution required it, no matter 
how unacceptable to those amongst whom he had 
been born, and with whom he liad lived. The 
policy v/hich has forced General Scott upon the 
country is sectional; it sprung from an impatience 
of constitutional restraint. It had its origin in a 
wide-spread hostility in a particular section to the 
enforcement of a plain and undeniable guarantee 
of the Federal compact. 

No Adiiiinistraiion has more universally than 
the present, challenged the admiration of friends 
and foes upon every subject, except the compro- 
mise policy. There was, it seems, one fatal ob- 
jection to his nomination, and that olijection is 
alike fatal to the nationality of the Whig party. 
He had approved the fugitive slave law, and he 
had, in the discharge of liis official iluty, required 
it to be faithfully executed. For this he was 
sacrificed. Yes, tell it in Gath; publish it in the 
streets of Askelon, that Millard Fillmore was 
deemed unavailable by the Whig party, because 
he had approved, and caused to be executed, the 
fugitive slave law. For the submission of his 
judgment to the Constitution of his country, and 
for his rebellion to the "higher law," did those 
mighty men of the North — Seward, Johnson, and 
Vinton — array their disciplined battalions against 
him. In vain did the Whigs of the South struggle 
in his behalf; in vain did they, for days and nights, 
exhibit an unbrolcen front, and say to their north- 
ern allies: We present a man from your own sec- 
tion, vv^liose only olFense — if offense it be — is, thnC 
he has obeyed the Constitution, and accorde<J to 
us our rights. Their appeals were spurnet'. The 
decree had gone forth: Let him die. Let his fate 
be an example hereafter to all northern statesmen 
who dare to pander to a slave-catching policy. 
Can there be unity and nationality in a party 
where discord reigns upon such vital interests? Is 
this a question upon which southfrn Whigs can 
agree to disagree with their northern allies? Is it 
sufficient to tell me that the platform recognizee 
the binding efficacy of that law? I have already 
shown, from the manner of its adoption, how littJe 



15 



confidence can be placed in it as a rule of party ' 
action; and besides, mere paper resolutions, when 
lb<fy stand alone, are airy, unsubstantial nothing- I 
ness. They are salt without its savor — bodies 
without souls. The nomination is the living, 
breathing, animating principle, that imparts life 
to the object, and assures us there is a reality in 
what we see. \ 

Tlie Whig party might have been nationalized; 
it might have been made powerful. Had the com- 
promise resolution been adopted under circum- 
Btances to give satisfactory assurances of its sin- 
cerity; had the distinguished representative of the 
principles embodied in that resslution been tri- 
umphantly placed upon its pedestal; and had the 
northern vVhigs rallied to his support at the polls 
in a manner to testify that they had the hearts to 
honor and support a man who had the firmness to • 
maintain the constitutional rights of the South; 
then, indeed a confidence might have been in- 
spired in their patriotism and fraternal sympathies 
that would in some measure have atoned for years 
of hostility and warfare upon our institutions. 
But the opportunity is past; the nationality of the 
Whig party is gone; sectionalism must forever 
predominate in its present organization. Scott 
may succeed. He may become President. Cut 
success or defeat will now be alike fatal to it. Its 
inevitable destitiy is to have its northern wing 
hereafter absorbed in this great Abolition Free- 
Soil party of that section. 

It is, then, manifest that, with my views of 
General Scott's position in the present canvass, 
he cannot receive my support. Shall I be neutral 
in this contest.' No, sir; that is alike inconsistent 
with my sense of duty. 

Franklin Pierce stands before this nation, in this 
contest, the rejiresentative of that conservative 
compromise policy which I was sent here to sup- 
port, and upon whose inflexible maintenance de- 
pend the peace and the tranquillity of this Union. 
No man v.ho looks to his past course, or to the 
influences to which he must be indebted for his 
election, can feel the .slightest emotion of appre- 
hension for its disturbance while he occupies the 
executive chair. I have already shov/n you that, 
with the first burst of sectional agitation and 
tumult at the North, in the fall of 1850, he repaired 
to the post of duty, and before a large assemblage of 
his countrymen threw the whole weight of his high 
character, of his unbounded personal popularity, 
of his great and acknowledged abilities, into the 
scale of the Union. His presence there upon such 
an occasion, and under such circumstances, v/as 
an evidence of his patriotism. His remarks mani- 
fest a just appreciation of the importance of that 
crisis, and of the necessity and justice of recogniz- 
ing the constitutional rights of the South. Since ; 
that day, every act of which we have any record, 
every remark which in any authentic form has [ 
reachtd the public eye, every letter which bears his 
signature, breathes the same anxious and profound 
interest in the maintenance of that conservative 
policy. And in his letter of acceptance, which ' 
contains the last declaration of his views, he speaks 
with the frankness of a soldier, and with the full- 
ness of a patriot — who estimates the vast influence ; 
which this question must exercise over the desti- j 
nies of the Republic: 

" I accept the nomination upon the platform adopted by I 



(he Convention, not because this is expected of me as a can- 
didate, but hccitusc the yrinciptes it emhracei command the 
apjrrolialion of my jnd«mcnt, and with thtni [ believe I 
can safely say, there has bee.i no word or act of mt 
iiFE i.s conflict." 

My first acquaintance with General Pierce datea 
back to August, 1833. Since that time I have been 
a close observer of his public career. Time does 
not enable me, now, to go into an examination of 
his course. But I do not fear contradiction when 
I assert, that the record of no northern statesman 
exhibits a more uniform and consistent respect for 
the constitutional rights of the South than his — • 
nor can one be shown manifesting more true loy- 
alty to all the objects and purposes for which this 
great Union was formed. It will give me pleas- 
ure, sir, to record my vote for him. 



[From the National Intelligencer of July 6, 18.53.] 
Washington, July 3, 135!2. 

To prevent all mistalces and misapprehension, 
we, the undersigned, members of Congress, adopt 
this method of making a joint statement to our 
constituents, respectively, and to all who may 
lake an interest in the siii>ject, that we cannot and 
will not support General Scott for the Presidency, 
as he now stands before the American people, for 
the following, amongst other reasons: 

He obstinately refused, up to the time of his 
nomination, to give any public opinion in favor of 
that series of measures of the last Congress known 
as the compromise; the permanent maintenance 
of which, with us, is a question of paramount 
importance. Nor has he since his nomination 
made any declaration of his approval of those meas- 
ures as a final adjustment of the issues in contro- 
versy. 

It is true the resolutions of the convention that 
nominated him are as clear and as explicit upon 
this question as need be; but Genera! Scott, in his 
letter of acceptance, which contains all that we 
have from him on that matter, does not give them 
the approval of his judgment. This lie seerna 
studiously to have avoided. He accepts the nom- 
ination, " with the resolutions annexed." That 
is, he takes the nomination cum onere, as an irdi- 
vidual takes an estate, with whatever inaimhrances 
it may be loaded with. And the only pledge and 
guarantee he oflers for his " adherence to the 
principles of the resolutions," are " the known 
incidents of a long public life," &c. 

Amongst these " knoicn incidents" of his life 
there is not one, so far as we are aware of, in favor 
of the principles of the compromise. In one, at 
least, of his public letters, he has expressed senti- 
ments inimical to the institutions of fifteen States 
of the Union. Since the passage of the com- 
promise he has suffered his name to be held up be- 
fore the people of several of the States as a can- 
didate for the Presidency by the open and avowed 
enemies of those measures. And in the conven- 
tion that conferred this nomination upon him he 
permitted himself to be used by the Free-Soilersin 
that body to defeat Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Web- 
ster, because of their advocacy of these measures 
and their firm adherence to the policy that sus- 
tained them. 

To join such men, and aid them in completing 



^ 



16 






their triumph over and sccr^fwe of the true and tried 
friends of the Constitution, and the faithful dis- 
charge of ail its obligations, is what v/e can never 
do. The dictates of duty and patriotism sternly 
forl.id it. 

We consider General Scott as the favorite can- 
didate of the Free-Soil wing of the Whig party. 
That his policy, if he should be elected, would 
be warped and shaped to conform to their views, 
and to elevate them to power in the adm.ini.'^tration 
of the Government, can but be con.sidered as a 
legitimate and probable result. And believing, as 
we do, that the viev/s of that faction of mischievous 
men are dangerous not only to the just and con- 
stitutional rights of the southern States, (which 
we represent in part,) but to the peace and quiet 
of the whole country, and to the permanent union 
of the States, we regard it as the highest duty of 
the well-vWshers of the country everywhere, v/hat- 



ever else they may do, to at least withhold fVom 
him their support. This v/e intend to.do^ 

Alexander H. bTF.pi£tiN**a|7's?:',- 

Charles Jas. FAULKj^fiaV of ' 

W. Brooke, of Miss., 

Alex. White, of Ala., •:. 

James Abercrombie, of Ala., 

R. Toombs, of Ga., 

James Johnson, of Ga. 
For reasons to some eitent indicated in speeches 
and addresses heretofore made by the undersigned, 
they deem it to be their duty to v/ithhold their sup- 
port from General Scott as a candidate for the 
Presidency. If it should seem to be necessary, 
we will hereafter, in some form, exhibit more fully 
to our constituents the facts and reasons which 
have brought us to this determination. 

M. P. Gentry, Tenn. 
C. H. Williams, Tenn. 



GLOg 



